Harry Potter and the Overload of Gen Z

Diagon Alley

Harry's mind was in a mess as he stood outside the imposing walls of Gringotts.

It wasn't every day that you found yourself travelling decades into the past or into a world of magic. His situation greatly confused him. If he was in the past, then how would his actions affect the future? But if in his timeline, Harry had never ended up at the Dursley's, wouldn't it have been easy for Voldemort to win the war with no Harry Potter in his way? Yet his world had no trace of the Harry Potter series being more than fiction. He had been to King's Cross station a few times yet the wall to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters had been a normal brick wall. That suggested that either whatever magic around it had been cancelled or that he used to live in some alternate universe where the series was pure fiction.

He idly wondered that if he were to make it alive to the 2010s, would his younger self also be there? Thinking about it made Harry's head hurt and he decided he didn't want to think about the complexities and paradoxes of his time travelling and possibly universe hopping trip.

He did remember something from the books about Hermione rambling on about what happened to wizards who messed with time. Harry personally thought that it was time that was messing with him and not the other way around. Talk about being royally screwed.

Of course nothing made sense. The Harry Potter series was supposed to be about him ? But things had deviated from canon when he never showed up at the Dursleys? So were the books even reliable sources of information then? They got the Dursley part wrong, and there was no telling what else could be wrong. At least he didn't have to deal with Ms Brown or any of her stupid English homework anymore.

Slay. Well, Harry liked to think that he was a rather optimistic guy.

If there was one thing that Harry Potter was known for it was doing the impossible.

He, Harry James Potter, could do this.

ϟ

What was not giving were the vibes of the cart that Harry, Snape and a goblin sat in.

Landing in Diagon Alley had been sensory overload and walking to Gringotts had felt like a fever dream where he had nearly fainted at least ten times. To the exasperation of Snape, he had strayed from their path multiple times with exclamations of "Ooh shiny!" as he eagerly took in all the magical trinkets and animated objects. There was quite the difference between seeing magic in movies and in real life and the air around him simmered with a tingling warmth of, well, magic.

He kept repeating the word in his mind. Magic. It was real and he had a place in its world. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he nearly bumped into Snape's back. Harry frowned in confusion, only to properly look at his surroundings and realise that a Goblin was standing next to him.

Goblins were short. Really short, Harry observed. Not that he was surprised, he had simply had quite the startle when the goblin smiled at him, sharp, yellow teeth bared at him. Harry shuddered, forcibly pulling his gaze elsewhere, trying to ignore his shaking legs. The floor suddenly became the most fascinating thing in the whole world.

Then Harry heard Snape pulling out a key and after a quick discussion, they were off and away, sitting together in a cart zooming ahead like a rollercoaster, twisting and turning. Harry could feel the excitement brimming in him - it had been a while since he had rode a rollercoaster and the wind rushing against his face left a thrill crawling up him. Turning to face his companions though, Snape's face was as stoic as ever, perhaps a hint of disgust peeking through, and the Goblin still had that sharp smile on its face.

The Goblins really needed to learn new facial expressions. It was giving NPC behaviour.

So yes, Harry found that the vibes were not giving. Hence he had decided to pull out his phone because what else was he supposed to do? Socialise? Touch grass? He laughed in his mind at the idea of both. And then he remembered with a shudder that magic and muggle technology did not mix - something to do with electricity and a bunch of technical jargon he didn't understand.